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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27956192">Of Duties and Distractions</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/3L1J4H_D3NN0/pseuds/3L1J4H_D3NN0'>3L1J4H_D3NN0</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Male-Female Friendship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-11 00:34:24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,249</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27956192</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/3L1J4H_D3NN0/pseuds/3L1J4H_D3NN0</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Leander has lots of work to do, as always, but Tani proves a challenging distraction.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Leander Aristides &amp; Tani</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Of Duties and Distractions</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for @presidentcrane for the Ni no Kuni Secret Santa exchange on Tumblr. Merry Christmas!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The sun shone brightly over Evermore one warm Tuesday morning, its light flooding the streets with colour and making some of the shinier roofs twinkle.</p><p>For Leander Aristides, the new Chief Consul to King Evan, that meant it was time for paperwork. Ever since Roland had returned to the world he was from, Leander had seen his workload increase a lot. He would do all he could for Evermore, however, so he strived to begin working as early as possible.</p><p>This wasn't so easy when you had an energetic teenage sky pirate bouncing around your quarters.</p><p>"I'm <em>bored</em>," Tani moaned, "Let's do something fun!"</p><p>"I'm quite busy with this right now," Leander replied, refusing to even look in her general direction.</p><p>"Right, so you just want to sit and chat? I can work with that."</p><p>"That's not what I-" But Tani was a stubborn fighter.</p><p>"So, I was wondering-"</p><p>"What <em>I'm </em>wondering," the Chief Consul cut through, turning around to glare at her mischievous grin, "is why you've chosen to distract me from my work."</p><p>Undeterred, Tani began pacing around the room, counting on her fingers as she explained, "Well, Evan's on some peace treaty job thing with some other kingdom, Batu's gone hunting with Min Ti and those guys, and Bracken's making a new invention-whatsit and doesn't want anyone near it. And Lofty's with Evan, of course."</p><p>She turned back to face him with a matter-of-fact nod.</p><p>"And you... couldn't have just joined one of those activities?" Leander asked slowly.</p><p>"I coulda. But they've all gone now, so it's just you and me."</p><p>"I see." Leander turned back to his desk and continued writing.</p><p>Tani wandered back over to him. "Don't you ever get bored of paperwork?"</p><p>Leander chose to ignore this particular question.</p><p>"You know," Tani spoke from right behind Leander's ear, startling him, "your hair seems more blond every time I see it. I thought it was green, but... Oh, never mind, it is green."</p><p>Leander made a slight groaning sound. She wasn't going to let up, was she? The sky pirate sidled around to lean on the side of the desk, not noticing, or perhaps not caring, as she knocked a pencil on the floor in the process.</p><p>"Have you ever kissed a mermaid?" The questions were getting as ridiculous as they were irritating. "I always thought mermaids had fish tails, not legs." A second passed. "But then it was Khunbish who told me that, so I guess I should've known it was rubbish.</p><p>"I reckon there's plenty more fun stuff you could be doing, Leander." Did she really? "You're really good at magic, we could do something really cool!"</p><p>Tani took a moment to consider the thought. "Hey, can you teach me how to levitate a spear?"</p><p>"No." Leander could only imagine what trouble that would cause.</p><p>"Oh... well, I'll ask Li Li another day. She's awesome at magic, too."</p><p>Leander looked up hopefully. "You could ask Li Li to teach you now, couldn't you?"</p><p>"Nah, she's busy."</p><p>Leander couldn't help but wonder why Tani hadn't noticed that <em>he</em> was just as occupied with a task as everybody else she had mentioned.</p><p>Tani perked up again. "Anyway, what's your favourite kind of higgledy?"</p><p>"Water."</p><p>He said it without thinking. He held his breath, praying that Tani hadn't noticed the slip up.</p><p>"Yeah, guess that'd make sense." She'd heard him, alright. "You being from Hydropolis and all. My favourites are the wind higgledies. Maybe it's cause I grew up in Cloudcoil Canyon..."</p><p>Leander wasn't really sure what was happening, or why, but as Tani chattered on about higgledies, he began to find it harder and harder not to take an interest.</p><p>"Found a pair of 'em snuggled up in one of the hedges around the castle the other day. Want to see the picture I took?"</p><p>"Well, I... suppose I could." Leander seemed to have lost the ability to say no.</p><p>Tani whipped out her Leafbook viewer and showed him the picture. Leander's heart positively melted at the sight of the two higgledies. The light one had its little arms wrapped tightly around its fiery companion, a relaxed expression on both their faces as they lay nestled in soft-looking leaves.</p><p>"Are you... crying?"</p><p>Leander rubbed his eyes subconsciously. "What? No, I- no. I wasn't." He cleared his throat. "It's a nice picture."</p><p>Tani grinned. "Yeah, I'll bet."</p><p>Suddenly remembering himself, Leander looked back at his paperwork. "Now, I really must get back to my duties-"</p><p>"Awww, Leander!" Tani moaned, a childish pout appearing on her face. "You're so boring!"</p><p>"I am not," Leander retorted. "I just have a sense of responsibility. However, once I have done, I don't see why we can't continue our discussion of spritecraft..."</p><p>Tani looked up with a wide smile. "Okay, fine. Finish your work. But you have to promise to hang out with me after."</p><p>"It's a promise." He placed a hand over his chest solemnly.</p><p>"Hey, if I helped, it'd go faster, wouldn't it?" Tani looked up at him with her bright eyes.</p><p>Leander wasn't quite sure that was true, even if the girl meant well. "Well, I don't-"</p><p>"I'll help! Just tell me what to do!"</p><p>Leander sighed, then a small smile crept onto his face. "Very well..."</p>
<hr/><p>It was almost nightfall by the time Batu returned to Evermore. Min Ti, Lycorias, Raxel and himself had had an extremely successful hunt today, and after dropping off the pack of hedgehounds at the hunting lodge, he set off back to the castle, first to boast to Tani and the others, and then to get some well-earned sleep.</p><p>He met Evan and Lofty on the way, both with their trademark smiles (Evan beaming innocently and Lofty grinning wildly), and the three of them walked through the quiet castle together.</p><p>Weird. The castle wasn't usually quiet. Shouldn't there be enthusiastic shouting or-</p><p>BANG!</p><p>-an explosion? That was more like it!</p><p>Bracken stumbled out of her quarters, coughing and laughing at the same time.</p><p>"Bracken!" Evan cried, "Are you okay?!"</p><p>"Fine, fine!" the engineer reassured him.</p><p>"Where're Tani and Leander?" Batu asked, feeling the unsurprising explosion wasn't worth mentioning. It happened at least twice a week, after all.</p><p>"Dunno, haven't seen 'em," Bracken replied, trying to wipe the soot off her face, but only smearing it further.</p><p>The party moved on, climbing the staircase to the next floor, on which both Leander's and Tani's quarters could be found.</p><p>After finding the latter's empty, they opened the door to the former's.</p><p>Bracken gasped and then barged Evan and Batu back into the hallway, making loud "Shh!"-ing noises at the same time.</p><p>"Wha-" the sky pirate chief began, catching Evan who had tripped on his own cloak.</p><p>"Don't make a sound!" Bracken whispered urgently.</p><p>They all peered back in, Lofty perched on Batu's shoulder. And then they saw what Bracken was referring to.</p><p>Leander was lying back on a pile of higgledies, possibly every higgledy in the kingdom, fast asleep, his glasses a little lopsided as they slipped down his nose. Tani was asleep next to him, her cheek squished against his shoulder as she snored softly.</p><p>Lofty snickered into his hands, Batu simply smiled warmly, while Evan stared, mouth hanging open, looking very much like he wished to feel what it was like to snuggle in a pile of higgledies.</p><p>Bracken closed the door again, and shooed them away, threatening to blow up their rooms if they woke Leander and Tani up.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Evan's first mistake was not giving Tani an official responsibility, leaving her to roam around, causing trouble at her leisure. She's deffo a kid who needs a lot of attention.</p><p>This was based entirely on the fact that Tani and Leander have the highest Spritecraft stats in the main party, even though the story never touches upon it.</p><p>I'm not sure if it's poetic or just ironic that Tani and Leander ended up just like the two higgledies in the picture.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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